Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

15 January   2021

 

 

 

 

DEVADASIS AND TAMIL COMBATANTS

 

This morning’s meditation was on my maternal uncle Ratnum Durai who was tortured to death by Japanese in their line of duty.  I have this recorded in my book – meant largely for my family:

 

My Mum’s family got displaced out of Burma - first to Sri Lanka and then to India due to world-war II. During the war my mother’s brother – Uncle Ratnum Durai worked for  the Allied Forces and I learnt about this from my mother and her elder brother Uncle Lionel Durai of 27, 130^th Street (Ground Floor), Kandawglay – Yangon 1121, Myanmar. My uncle   updated me as follows from the records he had.

STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN RAYMOND A.MALONEY OF

THE US AIR CORPS TO THE U.S. O.S.S IN 1945

DEATH OF RATNUM DURAI. O.S.S. AGENT CODE NAMED REX

ON 22 JANUARY  1944 BY

JAPANESE KEMPEITAI’S DAILY TORTURE & BEATINGS

 

Q:        Do you have any information concerning the death of one RATNAM DURAI at the New Law Courts Building, Rangoon, Burma? If so, please state what you know of your own knowledge concerning the incident?

Capt. Maloney: When I was placed in the New Law Courts Building, RATNUM DURAI was already confined in a cell adjacent to the one to which I was assigned, and was moved to my cell in about 10 days. On nearly every day for several weeks after I arrived, one or more interrogators, usually the interpreters, would come to the cell and ask him questions. I understood from the questions that they were seeking information as to the radio frequencies and codes he used as an agent for the United States intelligence, where he was trained, and the names of other natives trained with him. The interrogators would frequently beat him with a heavy club or rubber hose while in the cell. At other times he would be taken from the cell and be gone for a period of from a few hours to 2 days. When he was returned to his cell his body would show evidence of very severe beating, and frequently he had been so badly mistreated that he could not walk. About half the time he was given nothing to eat and did not recover. He died in January 1944, about 6 weeks after I arrived. He had no diseases or injury, except from apparent beatings, when I first arrived.

 

Q: State what was told to you concerning this mistreatment and of the background of RATNUM DURAI?

Capt. Maloney: I was told that DURAI was a Hindu and a citizen of Burma, but had been trained by the United States Intelligence and dropped from a plane behind the Japanese lines in Burma as an agent; that he was captured during the latter part of November 1943 and immediately brought to the New Law Courts Building.

DURAI told me that he was always beaten when he was taken from his cell for interrogation and that on several occasions he was hung by his feet from the ceiling of the interrogation room, so that his head was barely above the floor, and that water was then poured in his nose.

 

Q: Can you give any information as to those responsible for the mistreatment resulting in the death of RATNUM DUARI?

Capt. Maloney: There was one Japanese interpreter who was on the case continuously and gave many of the beatings. He was about 25 years old, about 5’5” tall and could speak good English. He said he knew a little about boxing and that he was one of the few Japanese there who wore their hair long as in Western style.

Signed : RAYMOND A.MALONEY, Captain, AC. ASN 0-726056

 

 

My search through public records connected me to the following about Captain Maloney:

Raymond Alberg Maloney

Birth: Dec. 4, 1916, Virgin, Washington County , Utah, USA

Death : Jul. 12, 2004, Virgin, Washington County , Utah, USA

…….

On December 1, 1943 Maloney was aboard B-24D #42-73055 serving with the 10th Air Force, 7th Bombardment Group, 9th Bombardment Squadron. They were part of a formation of B-24s on a bombing mission to Insein, Burma, near Rangoon. Fierce enemy opposition of anti-aircraft fire and fighter planes was encountered. Maloney's plane, along with four others, was shot down during the air battle.

Maloney and six of his nine crew mates were able to parachute to safety and became prisoners of war. Two of his crew mates died as prisoners. After being held for eighteen months, Maloney was freed when Rangoon was liberated by US and British forces. - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9197027/raymond-alberg-maloney

I learnt also about the violent ways of the Japanese who killed my Maama / Uncle - through Wikipedia:

‘The Kenpeitai ran extensive criminal and collaborationist networks, extorting vast amounts of money from businesses and civilians wherever they operated. They also ran the Allied prisoner of war system, which often treated captives with extreme brutality. Many of the abuses were documented in Japanese war crimes trials, such as those committed by the Kempeitai East District Branch in Singapore.

The Kenpeitai also carried out revenge attacks against prisoners and civilians. For example, after Colonel Doolittle's raid on Tokyo in 1942, the Kenpeitai carried out reprisals against thousands of Chinese civilians and captured airmen, or in 1943 the Double Tenth massacre which was in response to an Allied raid on Singapore Harbour. All these actions together—including Unit 731's vivisection campaign—include some of the worst atrocities committed during World War II.’

Now that the Australian Government is pro-Japan and anti North-Korea in 2017, which side do I take – pro or anti Japanese?

With time, the form of the  particular side we take, fades and perishes. The side we take is relative to other players involved in the manifestation at that time at that place. The more common we become, the deeper the value of the experience. My Maama / Uncle, as per my knowledge from the inside – and using our family measures, worked for the ‘good’ side that was committed to Peace at world level. His pain and our premature loss of that relation for being part of that good side and our acceptance of what happened  is my family heritage of positive value towards world Peace. THAT is the measure – at global standards, I would use for insiders.  At family level my uncle was on the side of Peace. His job happened on the side he considered to be peaceful at world level. That is how, we naturally take with us, our home structures into work as well as national and global  structures. Unless we override nature with external knowledge – the two systems would merge / collude naturally when we think we are unsupervised. At the deepest level we carry this into our next stage of life – which to those of us who believe in rebirth – is also our next life on earth, after our body dies in this life.

 

The above was written many years ago. Then this morning I read the Island report ‘MP Sritharan sets poser for UGC’ which begins as follows:

[TNA Parliamentarian S. Sritharan says that if the University Grants Commission considers the Mullivaikkal Memorial being re-erected in the Jaffna University premises an illegal construction then it should take action to remove various other memorials in other universities too.]

That reminded me of an incident in Vaddukoddai – a few years back. When I said that the shop next door had only one electricity  account for two shops, and hence we were entitled to do likewise, the engineer said – words to the effect ‘just because they commit a wrong, would you also do likewise? I responded by stating that when they did not find fault with the other shop, I was allowed to conclude that that action was as per the law.  

Until therefore we knew about a UGC law, we were entitled to use our judgment. But once UGC instructs along a certain principle the individual universities have the obligation to not override those orders.

Mr Sritharan was part of the University of Jaffna. Now he is part of the National Parliament. The current mind structure needs to be higher – so it would include the past in the present. Where the two are differently structured – the past needs to remain as invisible Energy and not be ‘seen’. It’s like in marriage. Where the two family structures are fundamentally different, the past needs to be invisible Energy. It is for this reason that the Vedas are largely in common sound form. University life of Mr Sritharan needs to be his Veda and his current Parliamentary structure needs to be the most apparent home of his laws. Now that he is married the biological family that he was born into becomes his past. One merges with the other as Shakthi which is Eternal. A good wife would carry her birth family as Energy . In Thesawalamai – both husband and wife needed to do this. Hence daughter inherited from mother and son from father. In Indian Tamil community  – the tradition was for the wife to merge with the husband’s family structure.

As per the Island report :

[MP Sritharan speaking to the media, on Tuesday, in Kilinochchi said that there were many memorials in other universities and there was nothing different between them and the one to be erected in the Jaffna University. “The wrong is there when you attempt to affix a communal identity to that statue”, the MP said showing pictures of memorials erected by undergraduates in other universities in memory of student activists that had been killed by para-military death squads during the time of the JVP’s second insurrection in the 1988-90 period.]

The difference is that JVP has not become Equal Opposition to Government in Parliament. Tamil Political groups have – in 1977 and in 2015. As a Tamil University, it is the duty of University of Jaffna to seek within through Political & Social Sciences as to the causal Energies that produced the two outcomes which happened only because the Commonness in Sri Lankans was stronger than the differences.

Those family with South Indian culture would have knowledge of Devadasis. As per Wikipedia:

[The Chola empire supported the Devdasi system; in Tamil Devdasis were known as Devar Adigalar, ("Dev" means "Divine" and "Adigalar" "Servants", i.e. "Servants of the Divine"). Both male and female Devadasi were dedicated to the service of a temple and its deity. The Chola empire developed the tradition of music and dance employed during temple festivals. Inscriptions indicate that 400 dancers, along with their gurus and orchestras, were maintained by the Brihadeesvarar temple, Thanjavur, with munificent grants including the daily disbursement of oil, turmeric, betel leaves, and nuts. Nattuvanars were the male accompanists of the Devadasis during their performances. The Nattuvanars conducted the orchestra while the Devadasi performed her service. Inscriptions indicate that Nattuvanars taught the Chola princess Kuntavai.

As the Chola empire expanded in wealth and size, more temples were built throughout the country. Soon other emperors started imitating the Chola empire and adopted Devadasi systems of their own.]

 

As highlighted in my recent article ‘WAR MEMORIAL IN UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO?’ Thanjavur , where Devadasis were recognized as Divine, has already established ‘War Monument Mullivaikkal Muttram’.

 

Armed Tamil combatants  are the parallels of Devadasis. Their exceptional talents are confirmations of unjust discrimination, including from within the Tamil community – on Caste basis. The moment they become official government – they lose that exceptional talent and become ‘juniors’ as JVP has become. Tamils in genuine Opposition will always carry that exceptional power.  The reason is they are not accountable and therefore are free of structural responsibilities.

The monument of victims – if official – makes us juniors to the government.  As per the above report:

[Sritharan asserted that the Army had erected many memorials in the North and they had become monuments of heroes but when people there built memorials they were termed as statues of traitors.

He said that one day the children would wonder with whom the government security forces had fought because only their statutes might remain.  Such a situation would help those who want to distort the truth about the past, the MP said.]

The value of this is in the following  depiction at  War Monument Mullivaikkal Muttram in Thanjavur :                         

[Sculptures spread throughout the memorial depict the stories of the Eezham Tamils, from the Burning of Jaffna library in 1983 to the mass massacres they had endured. The sculptures show images of sencholai - a school children massacre, sufferings of internally displaced people in IDP camps in a menik farm and in the IDP camp of kilinoichi, cluster bombing & phosphorus bombing by the Sri Lankan army in a no fire zone, wailing mothers, broken limbs, guns, and dead bodies.  Some sculptures also portray the peaceful lives Eezham Tamils led in the island nation and depict their various cultural identities including the national bird and the national tree of Tamil Eelam.]

The heroes have been included with great heroes like Kattapomman who opposed British rulers:

[Behind the Pavai is a building that houses portrait and photo galleries. Portraits of the people who lost their lives in the Eelam wars are on display here, among them the Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s parents, Parvathiammal and Thiruvenkatam Velupillai and his two sons Charles Anthony and Balachandran, LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham, Tamilchelvan, Thileepan, Annai Bhoopathi, Kittu, Balraj, Sivakumaran, Malathi, Miller, Angayarkanni among others.

A photo gallery at the memorial's Conference hall houses hundreds of photos of those who dedicated their lives for the cause of Tamil language. The Galleries also exhibit photos of Tamil kings like Pandara Vanniyan - Vanni Tamil Eelam, Sangiliyan - Jaffna Tamil Eelam, Kattabomman, Puli Thevan, Velu Nachiyar, Sethupathy, Maruthu Brothers, Theeran Chinamalai who resisted colonial rule. Other photos on display are those of the Tamil scholars and artistes including non-Tamils who have contributed to the development of the language]

 

If the above account is true – then missing is the LTTE chief  Velupillai Prabhakaran  whose presence is invisible but known through his parents and children as well as his juniors within LTTE.  To my mind, this could be due to the killing of Rajiv Gandhi and becoming the Lankan Government’s junior to get rid of Indian Peace Keeping Force.

University of Jaffna as well as the Provincial Council, would perform exceptionally well if they are self-sufficient in terms of status and do not ‘take’ Diaspora status as a handout. The moment they use such status – they become juniors of those governments.

I recall and feel my Ratnum Durai’s pain as my own. I believe that this has resulted in my insight through the path of faith  - into global conflicts.  To go universal with the Eelam experience, we need to remain as De facto power and express our Opposition independently and not relative to others – including other universities in this instance. They are juniors. We are unique.

There are no monuments for my uncle who also was a war hero. But in my heart – there is an eternal flame celebrating my uncle’s courage which prevented him from divulging the secret codes that the United States Intelligence used. He did not need cyanide because he had enough courage to endure the pain of torture.